Anglican Communion News Service

A new Centre for Human Potential Development for the Church of North India (CNI) was inaugurated on 28 March 2000. All the dioceses of the church were represented at the event, led by the Moderator of the CNI, the Most Revd Vinod Peter. A two day consultation followed, "Human Potential Development: A Challenge to the Church in the New Millennium", which sought to develop the uses and purposes of the new centre, and assess the wide training needs of the Church.

"This centre will help the Church and community at large to develop right perspectives and priorities," said the Moderator. "The centre is not production oriented but development oriented in its holistic sense. My concern is not only for the training of people, but the ground realities of poverty, dalits and tribals, gender justice, ecology, religious fundamentalism, and globalisation, which are all the challenges for the 21st century."

Mr Sudipta Singh, the Co-ordinator of the CNI Human Potential Development Programme outlined the differences between human potential development (HPD) and human resources development (HRD).

"HRD gives emphasis to the resources a person has for productive engagement in specified area, generally a profit oriented enterprise," Mr Singh explained. "HPD lays emphasis on developing the potential of a person or a community to respond to the challenges they face in the world today, and for creative and meaningful interaction between people, and intervention in the life of society and the nation." He reminded the consultation participants of the need to recapture the vision of an holistic development of each person and each community towards the Kingdom of God.

Workshops were held during the consultation to identify the different issues in human potential development that were relevant to the church, and to categorise participants for training on the HPD programme.

Item from: North India Church Review